a bleeding purple utah jazz blog

Utah Jazz 2010 Media Day Megapost: Returnees Part 2

Millsap: [re Sloan’s training camps:] “You just got to go out there expecting the worst from him. That’s what you got to do to get through it, but everybody looks good and everybody’s ready to go.”

–[Is how long it’ll take everyone to mesh the biggest concern?] “Our biggest concern is staying healthy throughout the year, that’s always our biggest concern…we’ve got smart enough guys to come in and the chemistry can be there this week.”

–[What do you like best about the new additions to the team?] “Big Al…seeing as how we lost Carlos this year, he’s going to help us out a lot.”

–Paul’s younger brother Elijah is at camp with the Thunder.

–He talks to Wesley everyday while playing Madden. [Locke: Who’s the better Madden player?] “Definitely me, with the New Orleans Saints. He likes the Vikings.” When Wesley gets mad about being beat, he hangs up his headset and refuses to text Sap back.

–Has a good vibe with Big Al because they’re both from the South and have the same background and morals.

–[The biggest area of improvement in Paul Millsap’s game will be…] “Will be…his confidence level.”*

*Salt Lake City, we have lift-off! Paul Millsap is now talking about himself in the third person. I see great things ahead.

(Aside re this camera angle: Guys would ever notice anything about it, but every girl would gasp in horror about how big her arm looks and demand that the picture be deleted.)

CJ: “What up doe?” [He really did say this. It sounded like “What up though”–and yes I know that’s what it means–but in my head it’s always “What up DOE?” with rising inflection at the end.]

–[What does Al bring that Boozer didn’t?]: “They’re different players. Booz was more of a face-up guy, more of a 15-16 foot from the basket guy*. Al’s more of a back-to-the-basket, pounding at the rim [guy], so it’s different assets they bring to the team.”

*Don’t that just say it all! I don’t care what the national “experts” say: Boozer is not a post player, especially when he has a taller guy guarding him. All last year, the KFAN homers were going on about how Boozer should not be traded because he’s one of maybe only two or three back-to-the-basket guys in the league. @_@

And if you don’t believe CJ, trust Deron, who said, “We’ve never had a true low post scorer who makes his living around the basket [until Al].” (ABC4)

–“It feels like my first year almost, except six years later.”

–Quoting Al at Fanfest when the new jerseys were unveiled: “This many people came to see jerseys? We had this many people at games!”

–He’s known Wesley Matthews since high school.

–Jerry didn’t know about the Ronnie Brewer trade beforehand, because his phone was off. LOL!

–“I KNOW I can shoot 40% from the 3-point line.”

Memo: Memo showed up with pretty darn awful hair as well. He’s still got that great smile though (cue “so darn likeable” comment).

–[Are there any things that you’re not able to do?] “Jumping, and running. Those two things, slow right now because I lost my calf muscle because of surgery….I can shoot. Still on.” (laughs)

–Can’t give a timetable; recovery is a slow but steady process; “so far so good.”

–Prompted to give a recovery percentage: (shrugs) “I would say around 70%.”

–Prompted to give a return date: “As soon as I can. I can’t wait.”

–“[Worst five months] ever in my basketball career. This was my first surgery ever in 20 years…Hopefully, I’m not going to see no more surgeries.”

–Memo and family spent 1.5 months in San Diego over the summer, and Melisa was late going back to school. (Sounds like Memo is letting his own attitude on going to school affect his parenting lol).

–“I’ll be back, I promise. [in Turkish-accented on top of Arnold-accented voice] I’ll be back.”

(Love the mohawk!)

Ronnie P: [How long does it take for chemistry to form?] “It doesn’t take long. You’re around each other so much, every single day, sometimes two, three times a day. It doesn’t take long. … You all know the game. You’re all playing the same game. The game hasn’t changed. It’s just whether guys want to commit to it or not. … We’ll have chemistry within the first three or four days of training camp.”

–[on Jazz signing Earl Watson] “I’m just happy to be where I am as far as a player. I’ve been fortunate enough to be here on the same team for four years … There’s always going to be guys coming in, going out … All we can do is practice, play hard, and work towards the same goal, and leave the decison-making, as far as who’s going to play what, and where, and minutes and all that stuff, that’s why coaches are coaches and players and players.”

–“I’m just excited [that] there’s another guy I get a chance to learn from. … I’ve learned from Jason, I’ve learned from Brevin, I’ve learned from Mike Bibby, I even learned from Eric Maynor, a rookie…you see what they have that you may not have, and you try to put that in your game, and that’s how I am as a player and how I’ve always looked at things.”

–About his “boot camp ‘do”: “It’s grinding time, it’s time to grind, so I wanted to be like a soldier, so this is my warrior soldier haircut…my barber gets a kick out of it, but just as long as Coach Sloan doesn’t get mad at me. If he does, I have to cut it off, no problem.”

Kevin O’Connor: “I had a conversation with [AK] and I can repeat this very, very accurately and very honestly: We’ve never initiated a trade call this whole summer about AK. We think he’s going to have a good year for us.”

–re Deron’s cliff-dive: “I was a little disappointed in him that he didn’t get in a tuck position a little bit better and that his arms were a little too far out. I gave him an eight.”